


When the Bough Breaks

by Waldo



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s01e13 End of Days, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Telepathy, Year That Never Was
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-11-07
Updated: 2007-11-07
Packaged: 2017-10-05 12:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waldo/pseuds/Waldo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if The Year That Never Was never was, but the wild goose hunt in the Himalayas was?  And what if Jack were to come home to find that there's a much bigger issue to deal with than the fact that he left?</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the Bough Breaks

**Author's Note:**

> Fabulous beta done by [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/kensieg/profile)[**kensieg**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/kensieg/). Much information - both medical and geographical - garnered from Google, so take with a large grain of salt, yeah?

The one thing Jack hadn't expected to find when he got back was an empty Hub. A Hub that was actually shut down and collecting dust. Ianto'd have a fit when he saw the mess. He looked up and saw that Myfanwy's hatch was open so she could come and go as she pleased. That explained some of the mess. The pteredactyl had apparently over turned a few chairs and either she or the wind had scattered some papers and files on the floor.

Jack tilted his head and surveyed the scene. The team wasn't out on a run. They were just… gone. But they'd left knowing they weren't coming back for a time. Jack wandered up to his office where he found the answer phone blinking. Absently he hit play, even though he expected it to be the pizza place calling to see if they were ever getting paid or Owen's mother calling to complain that he never called. Why she couldn't do that on Owen's mobile or home phone, Jack never understood.

"Jack, on the off chance you come back before we do; call the NHNN in London." It was Owen's voice and Jack whipped around to stare at the machine as if it was somehow responsible for the news it was imparting. "Ask for me – I'm on a visiting physician's license – or Ianto's room. I'll explain more when you call." Owen proceeded to leave the numbers and extensions before he hung up.

Jack dropped into his chair, his stomach full of lead. The only NHNN he knew of was the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and apparently Ianto was a patient. Fuck. He replayed the message, punching the number into his mobile as Owen read it off. He had to go through three electronic switchboards and two humans before he finally got connected to a ringing phone.

"Hello?"

"Tosh?!" Jack asked excitedly, thrilled to hear her voice.

"Who is this?" she asked nervously. Jack knew she knew damn well who it was, but was either not ready to have her hopes dashed on the off chance she was wrong or she was really pissed at him.

"Tosh, it's me, Jack." He heard a click and then a scuffle of feet and voices and presumed he'd been put on speakerphone. "Hello?"

"Harkness?" Owen asked sharply. "That you?"

"Yeah, Owen it's me. What the hell is going on?"

"Hell of a lot of nerve you have asking us that," Owen replied.

Jack checked his temper. All of them being pissed at each other for not being where they were supposed to be wouldn't solve anything. "I know," he said softly, "And I will explain, just… tell me why you're in London."

There was a long pause before a voice Jack recognized as Gwen's finally answered, "Ianto got hurt, Jack."

"I surmised that much from the phone message. Where is he? Can I talk to him?" His heart was pounding; the non-answers were starting to piss him off. How bad was it?

"He's not here," Gwen said.

Jack's frayed temper snapped. "Where is he? You just said he-"

"He's in surgery, Jack. He's hit his head and they can't keep the swelling down. They're doing a cranionomy to try and take the pressure off his brain." Owen's voice had come down a notch apparently aware that this news would be tough on Jack. There was a pause as he let Jack take in the information.

"And it's so bad they couldn't treat him here in Cardiff?" Jack asked quietly.

"We weren't in Cardiff when it happened. It's a long story, but we were in fucking India. I was only able to get a medical transport back to civilization a few days ago. Look, the really, really short version is that he fell off a goddamned mountain and now we're having some problems keeping the swelling in his head down. I can tell you that if you could see your way clear to getting your arse out here, he'd be pretty fucking happy to see you when he gets out of recovery." Jack could hear Owen take a deep breath. His voice was softer, kinder when he added, "He was pretty confused the first few days … he kept asking for you."

Jack took in Owen's words. They'd been in the Himalayas. He'd hoped that when the Year That Never Was had been erased The Master's decoy trip for his team would have never happened as well. So much for that. Ianto had been asking for him when he'd been hurt. He didn't envy whoever had to tell him that he wasn't there. He buried his head in his hands for a second. He should have been there. "I don't suppose the SUV is still here," Jack said at last.

"Yeah," Tosh answered for them. "We haven't been home since, so…"

Jack clicked on his own speakerphone and dropped the mobile into his shirt pocket so he could talk while he shoved a few shirts and pairs of socks into a bag. He looked through the things Ianto had started leaving in the hub as their relationship had progressed. He grabbed his toothbrush and razor as well as a few t-shirts and some underwear. He found one pair of Ianto's jeans in his locker and figured they'd get him whatever else he needed in London. He grabbed the spare SUV key from his desk and headed out.

"I'm on my way. I'm going to hit the lights when I get to the M4, even so It'll probably take me over two hours to get there… tell me what happened while I drive," he ordered.

The SUV was made to handle well at high speeds and Jack was hell-bent on putting those capabilities to the test. He listened as Gwen and Owen took turns filling him in on the call from the Prime Minister about a Rift that had supposedly opened up somewhere in the mountains between India and China. And how, when the wild goose chase had led them up a steep mountainside in search of some kind of crashed alien ship, Ianto had lost his grip on the rope and crashed down over twenty meters. They explained how it had taken search and rescue most of a day to reach them and get them back to the nearest medical facility which Owen had scoffed at and insisted on making transport plans to get Ianto back to the U.K. Plans that had taken over a week to materialize. He'd been road-blocked at every turn, every diplomatic channel turning him down until… suddenly they hadn't been able to do enough to help. Jack realized that that must have been the exact point where everything reset. When The Master no longer had influence to keep them stuck somewhere in the Asian subcontinent.

Jack put the SUV into a spot marked off for the police and ran for the door. He stopped and took several deep breaths before approaching the reception desk and asking for Ianto's room number. He barely heard the polite young lady as she gave him a sticker with his name and Ianto's room number written on it. He dashed for the lift and tapped his foot impatiently as it rose to the fourth floor.

Gwen was waiting near the nurse's station as he exited the lift and tackled him as soon as he emerged. He hugged her back and then stepped back to give her a once over. "You're okay? God, I'm sorry, I never even asked… is everyone else okay?"

Gwen nodded. "Tosh has a sprained wrist, but other than that… it's just Ianto."

Jack nodded. "Where is he? Where're the others?"

Gwen hugged him again, just because she could. "Ianto's still in surgery. Owen says it'll probably be another half hour or more. We've all been waiting in his room. They're going to page Owen when they get done." She took his hand and led him down the hall. "What about you? What happened? Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine. I'll explain to everyone at once… it'll take a while," Jack hedged as they made their way to a room about half way down the short corridor.

When Gwen pushed open the door, Tosh and Owen both jumped to their feet. Tosh virtually shoved Gwen aside in her attempts to get at Jack. She gave him a one-armed hug and a huge smile. Jack hugged her back carefully, dropping a soft kiss into her hair. "Hey. How are you?" He gently lifted her left wrist and examined the black elastic and Velcro brace.

"It's nothing, really. Just slipped on some ice. I'm fine," she assured him.

Owen hung back, studying Jack. "So you're back."

"Yeah," Jack answered simply, one arm still around Tosh who seemed to think apparently the key to keeping Jack nearby was to literally hang on to him. "And I will explain. I promise. But I'd like to see Ianto."

Owen looked like he was torn between chewing Jack out for being gone in the first place and being glad he was there now. He glanced at his watch. "Come on. They should be done soon if there weren't any complications. We can sit in the waiting room."

"What happened?" Jack asked before they could leave. "You said he fell a week ago. Why are they just doing surgery now?"

Owen blew out a breath. There was no good way to present this. "He's bleeding in his skull. It's causing pressure on his brain. They thought they'd gotten it under control, but this morning his blood pressure went through the roof and he wasn't breathing right. They did an MRI and found a bleed, they've gone in to stop it." He made sure Jack met his eyes as he added. "He has one of the best neurosurgeons in the country working on him. As much as this kind of trauma can be 'textbook', his case is. He was tracking conversations and his memory has been intact for the past couple days. Of course it's not _good_, but it really could be a hell of a lot worse."

Jack nodded. He strongly suspected that in the timeline he'd followed, Ianto had died on a mountainside in India. He'd tried to get confirmation of Torchwood's continued existence during that time and failing that he'd tried to at least find out if any of the four of them had survived. The lack of information had pretty much confirmed what he'd believed in his gut as soon as The Master mentioned his little snipe hunt in the Himalayas. He tried to shove down his guilt over everything that had happened and tried to be glad that at least things had reset back far enough that Owen had been able to get Ianto to a proper medical facility. "You said they should be done soon?"

"Yeah, come on," Owen said, turning back to the door and heading out.

Tosh remained plastered to Jack's side as they followed Owen to the stairs and down two flights to the surgery. Gwen took up the other side and Jack began to feel like a prisoner under guard who was expected to try and flee without a moment's notice. Not that he blamed them for wanting to be sure they knew right where he was.

Owen pointed them into a room decorated in soft greens and cream and said he'd go to the observation room and see how far along they were. The girls remained on either side of Jack as he flopped onto a mint green sofa.

Owen came back in five minutes later. "They're putting in the sutures now. Once they get him bandaged up and off all the monitors they'll move him into recovery." He looked Jack in the eye as he said, "It's still going to be a while before he's awake. He hasn't been conscious over-much since he got hurt in the first place, but now with all the anesthesia…"

Jack let his hands hang between his knees. "That's okay. I just… Can I sit with him for a few minutes? I don't care if he can't talk to me, I just want to see him."

Owen's face grew soft at Jack's quiet, pleading words. "I'll arrange it," he said before slipping out again.

Tosh reached for Jack's hand with her good one. He knew she thought she was offering him support, but as clingy as she'd been since she'd seen him, he knew that it was more for her comfort than his. He put an arm around her shoulders and let her lean his head on his chest.

"He'll be okay," Gwen said for lack of anything else to say.

Jack nodded. "I just want to see him to be sure."

He thought through what Owen had said. Ianto had fallen over a week ago and was still having problems staying awake. Now they were drilling holes in his skull to try and take the pressure off his swelling brain. None of that sounded good. Jack wondered if he'd be able to breathe life into Ianto a second time if it came to that.

They sat silently for another thirty minutes before Owen came back.

Gwen popped up and ran to Owen. "What's happened?"

Owen nodded her back to the sofa and then sat on the coffee table to address everyone. "They're done and getting him set up in recovery now. I managed to catch the surgeon on his way out." He smiled as everyone let out a collective sigh. "The good news is that once they got in there, they not only found the bleed they saw on the scan this morning, but another smaller one. They were able to stop them both and his ICP looks good now."

"ICP?" Tosh asked.

"Intracranial pressure. His brain isn't being squished anymore," Owen explained somewhat indelicately, but he knew that if he started pussy-footing around it too much, they'd all jump to all kinds of horrid conclusions.

"You said that's the good news. What's the bad?" Jack asked softly.

"They're starting to see a few signs of something called an abducens palsy. It's nothing major and it may resolve itself as he heals."

"What, like cerebral palsy?" Gwen asked. "I have a nephew with that."

"Something like, but not as … encompassing," Owen explained. "A palsy is a condition where the brain and the muscles aren't exactly on speaking terms. In cerebral palsy it can affect the arms and legs and other voluntary muscles. In this case, an abducens palsy means he can't shift his eyes in the socket. If it doesn't resolve, he'll have trouble focusing at a distance and he'll turn his head to see things on the periphery instead of just looking over like this," Owen proceeded to demonstrate, looking at the walls on both sides of the room.

"That doesn't sound… so bad?" Tosh asked, more looking for confirmation than anything.

"It's not, all said," Owen said. "Believe me when his blood pressure and respiration spiked this morning I thought we'd be looking at much bigger problems."

Jack hung his head. He found himself actively wishing the Master hadn't allowed himself to die. Jack wanted to find him and beat him into his next six regenerations. And then let him die.

"Jack," Owen said, breaking the silence that had descended. "They should have him situated by now. I can get you in for about five minutes." He looked at Gwen and Tosh, "If the nurses are feeling sweet tonight, I might be able to get them to let you two in for a minute or two after that."

They smiled and nodded at him as Jack got up and followed Owen out of the waiting room.

&lt;{*}&gt;

Jack wouldn't have recognized Ianto if Owen hadn't pointed him out. There were two other guys in the recovery room, all of who had bandages over at least half their head. Owen pulled a chair over to the side of Ianto's bed and nodded to Jack, leaving them alone.

Jack stared for a long moment before moving to the chair. Ianto was on a ton of monitoring equipment. All the wires and tubes connected to both arms and his head made him look small and fragile. All the white gauze around his head combined with the bruises on his face and the extremely pale complexion made him damn near unrecognizable. Jack traced one finger along the edge of the bandages and around the back of Ianto's ear. He noticed ruefully that there weren't any stray dark hairs poking out from under the white. "They shaved your head?" Jack asked the unconscious form. "That's going to go over well when you wake up."

Ianto's eyes crinkled and he turned his head just a fraction of an inch towards Jack's voice. Jack slid his hand down and wove his fingers through Ianto's carefully. "It's okay, Ianto. You don't have to wake up yet. You've had a rough day. I'm back now, and I'm not going anywhere, so just get some sleep," Jack soothed, not entirely sure if Ianto was hearing anything he said. He told himself that Ianto had heard him and understood when Ianto seemed to relax and settle a little more. He needed to believe that.

Ianto grimaced again and brought one shoulder up to his ear. Jack reached over and gently coaxed him to relax. "Come on, Ianto, it's okay. Just rest," he said. For all that Jack wanted to talk to him, he wasn't sure he was ready to face him. Not like this, not when there were bandages with pink edges showing and there was no way Ianto would be able to really understand much more than the fact that they'd just removed and later replaced a part of his skull and that he was in _pain_.

Jack wondered if he was simply sympathizing with Ianto or if there was some way that he was actually feeling Ianto's pain. He blinked as an odd memory skittered across his mind. He remembered meeting Rose and the little faux pas with the psychic paper. He sqeezed his eyes shut, trying to think of why he was remembering that particular incident with Ianto laying in a hospital bed having just had brain surgery.

_Rose. Psychic paper. Rose laughing because he had inadvertently made a pass at her. Not that he'd regretted it, but he really hadn't meant to. At least not at that particular time. He remembered a night when he'd been with Martha and the Doctor in his newest incarnation and he and the doctor had been teasing Martha about the fact that humans wouldn't develop reliable psychic abilities until at least the twenty-ninth century and how it wouldn't be mainstream and commonplace until after the thirty-fifth. They'd then proceeded to have a conversation half out-loud and half psychically, just to pull her chain._

"Well, there's always that odd group Rose met," the Doctor had said.

"Odd group?" Martha asked.

"Mm," the Doctor had answered in that inimitable way this regeneration so favored. "We ended up at Torchwood in London," he shot Jack an unreadable look. "They told her they'd all had psychic training. Enough to fool psychic paper, but it wasn't like they'd gone about talking to each other like that or anything."

Jack shook himself out of the memory. _"They told her they'd **all** had psychic training._"

Jack had all but shut down his own psychic abilities – not that he'd ever been a star pupil in his school classes for developing psychic abilities (or any other) – but he'd stopped using what he had learned when he'd gotten stuck in 1869 since it tended to freak contemporary people out.

Jack took a deep breath and cleared his mind. _Ianto, I have no idea if you can hear me_.

Ianto shifted. Jack wasn't sure if it was a response or just coincidence.

_I'm home_, he sent feeling lame for not having anything better to say. _You're doped to the gills. You just had surgery; so don't wake up just yet. But you know, I thought maybe… maybe you'd hear me this way._ Jack focused his emotions sending waves of comfort and calm.

Ianto settled against his pillows and the lines in his face softened.

Jack smiled. That wasn't coincidence. There was no way. If there was, Jack didn't want to know about it. _I'm going to stay for a while. Just rest. You'll probably think you dreamed this when you wake up. But that's okay, because I'll still be here when you open those gorgeous eyes of yours._ He cut off thoughts of that palsy thing Owen had mentioned and how Ianto's eyes may not ever work quite right again. No point in freaking the poor guy out.

Jack carefully tugged the sheet up around Ianto, noticing for the first time how cold the hand in his was. When the nurse came by to record the information from the machines Jack asked if she could get Ianto a blanket. She came back a few minutes later with a white cotton blanket and she handed it to Jack, letting him tuck Ianto in. It made him feel better to have done something for the battered man. Such a little thing after all this, but it was _something_ and Jack needed that. _Better?_

He swore there was just the faintest echo of a positive response.

After Ianto was tucked in, Jack took his hand again and sat on the edge of the bed near Ianto's knee and just watched him, grateful to see each rise and fall of his chest. He had no idea how long he'd been sitting there when he felt Owen's hand on his shoulder. "He doing okay?"

Jack's first reaction was to tell him that he was reasonably sure that Ianto was sleeping peacefully; that he knew Jack was back and was just biding his time before he woke up to talk to them. That would entail explaining how he knew that and he wasn't sure Ianto would want anyone to know that. A small smile quirked up the corner of Jack's mouth. It would explain how Ianto always seemed to know just what people needed when they needed it. He'd always thought him just observant, but the more he thought about it… It also explained how he could move in and out of the hub taking are of a Cyberwoman without being noticed. The smile faded. Perhaps there was yet another talent of Ianto's that Jack had been sadly underutilizing.

"Jack?" Owen asked when there was no answer to his earlier query. "How is he?"

Jack nodded at all the equipment. "You tell me; you're the doc."

Owen took Ianto's chart from the end of the bed and flipped through several pages. "His blood pressure is much better than it was this morning. They'll keep him on oxygen for a while because that's standard treatment for high ICP, but his O2 looks good and his reflexes are good. Yeah, so long as there are no other bleeds, he's going to be okay."

Jack nodded, trying to shunt all thoughts of psychic communication and training back into the back of his mind. In retrospect, it may not have been the world's smartest idea to go poking into a sick brain. Trained or not, Ianto could have had a pretty strong reaction to someone else in his head. They already knew there were some symptoms of things being less than good between the swelling and the vision issues. "Except for that eye thing?" Jack asked.

"No one's sure on that yet. They saw it this morning when he was awake, but it's hard to test for in someone unconscious, and like I said, it could resolve now that the bleeding's stopped and the pressure's down. And even so, it's something he can totally learn to live with." Owen hung the chart back up.

"He couldn't go into the field though, right? No peripheral vision?" Jack was gently stroking the back of Ianto's hand with his thumb.

"You're putting the cart way before the horse, Jack. We have no idea at this point if he's going to have any permanent residual effects from this. On the other hand, it could be weeks or months before he's even up for so much as making coffee and filing things. So far when he's been awake his memory and processing have all tested all right. He may need a little physio, but only because he's been in bed for a week and probably will be for a few weeks more. He's going to get pretty stiff and weak from not moving. We were all amazed that he didn't break a single bone in that fall. He has a good number of bruises, but I don't reckon it's anything worse than what happened at Hotel Hell in Brecon Beacons. Now that the bleeding is under control, he's doing really well. A lot better than we ever figured on up on that damn mountain. Anyway, even if the vision issues don't clear completely up, I don't think it'll affect his job. He's not a field officer anyway."

"Then what was he doing out there?" Jack snapped suddenly turning to face Owen.

Owen raised a finger in Jack's face. "Whoa there, mate; you want to have an argument with me, we can do it out there," he jerked a thumb at the door. The look on his face told Jack that Owen would be perfectly okay if Jack took him out in the hall. He had a few things to say too.

Jack knew they all did, but for the moment they were, thankfully, putting those things aside in deference to Ianto's condition.

Jack took in a deep breath and turned back to Ianto. "I don't want to have an argument with you," he said simply. Owen wasn't sure if it was because he simply didn't feel up to having an argument or if it was because getting to have it would mean having to leave Ianto's side.

Owen's hand came back down on Jack's shoulder. "He insisted on going. We had about twelve hours between the time we got the call from the Prime Minister and the time our plane left for Kashmir. I talked to the girls. Turns out that in that time we all pulled him aside separately and tried to convince him to wait in Cardiff in case you came back. He was having none of it."

Jack nodded. That sounded like Ianto. Brave to a fault. They stayed that way for another few minutes. Jack was sure Owen's promised five minutes had come and gone a long time ago, but he wasn't going to be the first to bring it up.

Almost as though he was reading Jack's mind though, Owen squeezed his shoulder and said, "Tosh and Gwen want a minute. Why don't we let them step in for a bit and then we can all get dinner. As long as everything stays this good, they'll move him up to his room around seven and you can stay as long as you like."

Jack nodded without moving for a long moment. "Yeah. Just give me one more minute, okay?"

Owen squeezed his shoulder. "Sure."

When Jack heard the door close behind Owen, Jack stood and walked to the head of the bed. He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to one of the few unbruised patches of skin on Ianto's cheek. "Get some rest," he instructed softly. "Because I expect you to wake up and talk to me for a bit tonight, okay? Give me hell for going away… whatever." Of course there was no answer, even as much as Jack tried to will one from the very, very still form. He kissed him one more time before heading out so that Tosh and Gwen could stop in for a bit.

&lt;{*}&gt;

They convinced Jack to at least walk down to the little Thai place around the corner, even if he insisted on getting food to go and bringing it back. They ate in the day room at the end of Ianto's floor where Jack could see out the door if they brought Ianto up during their dinner.

He was staring out the door, glad he'd gotten spring rolls and cucumber salad, both of which were supposed to be cold. He was waiting, hoping they'd bring Ianto up so he could sit with him again. So he could get his whole team together for the first time since he'd left.

"Jack, he'll be okay. They would have paged Owen or called any one of our mobiles if anything had changed. We've uh… impressed upon them not to keep information from us." Gwen rubbed a hand up and down his arm.

Jack turned back to her and smiled. "I know. But I'd really like to have everyone in the same room for a little while, you know?"

Gwen smiled at him, but there was something about the look on Owen's face that Jack didn't like. If the man was going to start picking fights about Jack having been the first to leave, Jack wished he'd just do it and get it over with.

Jack poked through his salad with his chopsticks until he found a piece of carrot. He wasn't all that hungry, but he knew Tosh and Gwen would just go all mother-hen on him if he didn't eat enough to put up an appearance of things being normal.

He'd gone back to staring out the door again when he saw the lift open and the porters pull a gurney out. He tossed down his chopsticks and headed for the door only to be blocked by Owen. "Give them a few minutes. They need to get him settled and reattached to all the monitors. Just a few minutes."

Jack looked down at the hand on his chest and considered knocking it and its owner aside and doing what he damn well pleased. But instead he let common sense elbow its way through the myriad of emotional responses he was contemplating and backed down. He didn't say anything, just stood in the doorway and waited.

"He really is going to be okay, Jack," Owen said softly, but Jack noticed, Owen was still blocking the door.

Jack just nodded and continued to watch the hall.

Just as Owen had predicted, five minutes later the porters and nurses filed out. Once they had, Owen finally moved and let Jack go down the hall. "We'll be down in a second. We'll just clear up here," Owen called as Jack left. He shook his head, fairly sure Jack hadn't heard a word he'd said.

When they'd cleaned up the boxes and paper tea cups, the rest of Torchwood Three went down to where they could all finally be together again for the first time in a long time.

&lt;{*}&gt;

Jack had put the guard-rail down on the side of the bed closest to the window and was sitting next to Ianto's hip, holding his hand again when they walked in.

"See?" Owen said cheerfully as he took up Ianto's chart again. "Same as before. Fast asleep but breathing well, good blood pressure."

Ianto was twitching just a little, shifting in minute ways that spoke of trying to get comfortable, but not quite knowing what was wrong in the first place.

Jack's free hand twitched, itching to run through Ianto's hair to soothe him. He knew that touching Ianto's head at this point would be insanely stupid. Not that it mattered; it looked like his hair was completely gone.

Tosh sat in the one chair near the window. Gwen climbed up on the other, unoccupied, patient bed. Owen leaned on the wall. They all looked at Jack like he'd know exactly what they expected of him now that they were all together. And he did. He could pretend he didn't, but that would just force one of them to ask in so many words where he'd been and why he'd gone, and that would just make things even more awkward. He debated putting them off until Ianto was in some condition to hear it so he'd only have to go through it once. But he knew he couldn't do that. It would likely be days before they took Ianto off enough of the pain meds that he could be awake for a several-hour-long conversation. Or recitation as it was likely to be.

All the same it was easier to direct his words to his sleeping lover. "I can try to explain," Jack began softly. "But I'm not sure it'll make a lot of sense. I'm not sure it'll… excuse what I did."

No one said anything, so Jack took a deep breath and started to talk. "I guess it all started somewhere between the fifty-first century, 1941 and the year 200,100, depending on how you look at it…" After about and hour and a half Gwen disappeared into the loo and came back out with a glass of water for him. He hadn't even realized how hoarse he'd gotten.

"Thank you," he said, setting the empty glass back on the rolling hospital tray. "So anyway, Martha escaped and did exactly what the Doctor told her to do. She went across the entire world–" He stopped suddenly. He was still looking at Ianto when he spoke, so it didn't go unnoticed when Ianto began to squeeze his eyes tighter shut and shift a little. "Ianto?"

Ianto's eyes opened just a sliver. "Oh wonderful," he muttered. "On top of everything else, now I'm hallucinating too."

Jack jumped up and leaned over Ianto. "No. No no no no no! I'm real. I'm here. I'm back. I –"

The slightest smile curled Ianto's dry lips and Jack knew he'd been had. "Gotcha," Ianto said with a little laugh as his eyes slid shut again.

Jack fell back against the wall, heaving a great sigh. "You idiot," he laughed. He had no idea what on Earth possessed Ianto to pull something like that having just come out of brian freaking surgery, but Jack knew he'd earned whatever kind of heart attacks Ianto chose to give him at that point. He shook his head and went back to the bed where he saw Ianto open one eye and then the other as Jack sat back down.

Owen came to stand next to Jack and whispered, "His moods have been pretty erratic – not unexpected with this kind of head trauma. But you'll appreciate this moment when he swings the other way."

Ianto made a face and scowled at Jack. "You're so real, there's two of you," he complained softly.

"You're still having the double vision, eh?" Owen said, taking a pen out of his jeans and marking on Ianto's chart. "Hopefully that'll clear up in the next day or two. Any other complaints?"

Ianto sighed, suddenly looking much more sober. "Headache."

"Ya think?" Owen asked lightly. "You want something stronger for the pain?"

Ianto looked over at Jack. "Not yet."

Jack leaned down and kissed his cheek. "I'm not going anywhere this time. I promise. If you need to take something and it knocks you out… that's okay. I'll be here."

Ianto started to nod, but grimaced as he realized moving his head was a terrible idea. "In a minute," he compromised with Jack. "In a minute." He tightened his hand around Jack's.

Owen grabbed Toshiko and Gwen from where they'd gathered at the foot of the bed. "Come on ladies, I'll buy you a coffee."

Gwen looked ready to argue, but Tosh pushed her towards the door. "Brilliant." She gave Gwen a 'get a clue' look before glancing back over, "Jack, want anything?"

"No thanks, Tosh. I'm good," he said without taking his eyes off Ianto. He listened as the door shut behind them and then let out a breath. "I want to hug you in the worst way," he admitted. Ianto's eyes got almost half-open, the best he could do, with fear. "I know, I know. But I want to." He settled for lacing his fingers through Ianto's again. "I missed you," he said, his lips brushing across Ianto's knuckles as he spoke. "I'm sorry I left and I'm sorry you got hurt and…" Jack used his free hand to brush away the tears that had started to gather in his own eyes.

"Are you okay?" Ianto asked, his eyes wrinkled as he tried to focus on Jack.

Jack kissed Ianto's knuckles. It was so like him to be laying in a hospital bed wrapped in fifty kilometers of gauze, attached to every piece of medical equipment mankind had ever invented and asking if Jack was okay. "I am now," Jack whispered.

"It was the Doctor, wasn't it?"

Jack's head snapped up. "Ianto, we can talk about this when you feel –"

"No, it's okay," Ianto interjected. "I'm not angry. I just wanted to know if we were right."

Jack hugged Ianto's hand to his chest since it seemed to be the only part of him he could do that to without hurting him. "Yeah. Yeah, it was. But I asked him to bring me back to you. And I won't run off like that again. I promise you."

"'Kay."

Jack thought that was going to be that for the time being. Ianto's eyes slid all the way closed and his breathing evened out.

But apparently Ianto was just gathering his strength. "You should get some sleep," Ianto told him.

"You should talk," Jack said with a grin. "Seriously, you know me, I don't need much sleep."

"You need some," Ianto scolded.

"I need some," Jack agreed to simply forestall the argument he could feel brewing. "But I want to stay here with you for a while."

"Stay 'til I fall asleep again, alright? I think the others have a hotel near –"

Jack lay a finger gently across Ianto's lips. "Ianto, stop. Please. I know it's a deeply ingrained part of your nature, but you don't need to be taking care of other people right now." He stroked Ianto's cheek softly. "I'm going to stay here with you for a while tonight. I missed you so much." He paused to kiss the hand still in his. "Once it looks like you're out for the night, I'll let Tosh and Gwen drag me to this hotel of theirs. Because if you're noticing, I'm sure they'll have something to say soon enough. Alright?"

"Alright," Ianto agreed. He opened his eyes again and for the first time Jack felt like they were clear, not half clouded with drugs and pain and sleep. "But Jack, are you okay?"

Jack wrapped his other hand around Ianto's, holding it to his chest. "I'm okay. You're right, I'm a little tired – mostly from all the adrenaline rushes I've had today – but I'm fine. The Doctor made sure I got some rest before he brought me home."

"You're okay, though?" Ianto asked again as if Jack hadn't satisfactorily answered him.

"I'm fine, Ianto. I am. I'll tell you the whole story of where I went, and why, when you're feeling a little better. Just know that for now, I'm back, I'm whole, and I'm not leaving you again. I promise." He leaned down to kiss Ianto's cheek again. "Now you get some sleep, okay?"

Ianto took a deep breath and let it go. "Alright. Jus' stay for a while…" Ianto's words started to slur as sleep overtook him again.

"For as long as you want," Jack whispered, making himself comfortable on the edge of the bed.

&lt;{*}&gt;

It was three days before they could taper off the pain meds enough for Ianto to stay awake for more than ten minutes at a stretch. On the fifth day he told Jack he was fit enough to hear the story of Jack and the Doctor and why Jack had run off. Of course he used half his strength arguing with Jack about how well he felt and proceeded to fall asleep half way through. Jack picked up with the story again after lunch, but listening while he rested his eyes led right back to true sleep again just as Jack was explaining how they restored the Doctor. Owen was heartened to see that Ianto could not only track the conversation but remember it and had been able to tell Jack the last bit of the story he'd heard before dropping off. His moods were still unpredictable though, as Jack was slowly learning. It struck Jack as odd to hear Ianto snap over something as minor as if he was supposed to take his meds before or after he ate, but they were all getting used to it and Owen assured them that as he improved he'd get better control over himself.

A week after the surgery the stitches were removed as well as several pieces of the monitoring equipment. Much to Ianto's chagrin that was also when they started sending a physio up to have him start doing some exercises in bed.

Ten days after the operation, when he was holding down most of his food and could walk to the end of the hall and back with only a little help from Jack, Owen decided he was ready to head back to Cardiff. They'd sent Gwen and Tosh back several days before. Jack had asked them to straighten up the Hub so Ianto wouldn't try to do it when he got back and then check on the rift activity and weevil sightings. In short, it was time to get Torchwood Three back up and running.

Ianto had been thrilled to hear that he was getting out of the hospital but it had taken Owen, Jack and Ianto's attending neurologist to convince him of the necessity of staying at the Hub with Jack. It wasn't that Ianto objected to staying with Jack, but he was sick of being hovered over.

"I haven't needed looking after since I was ten," he groused, the injury still causing the occasional mood swing.

"When you were ten you didn't have a massive head trauma," Owen put in equally as acerbically.

"No, I waited until I was twelve for that," Ianto snapped back.

Jack gave him a look.

"I fell off my bicycle and hit my head on the curb," Ianto explained.

"How long were you in hospital that time?" Owen asked out of morbid curiosity.

"Mam took me to casualty but they decided I could go home as long as they could wake me up and I made sense when I spoke," Ianto said with a shrug, clearly thinking that that made a case for this working the same way.

"Then you obviously weren't hurt nearly as bad as this. It's been almost three weeks and you're still sick to your stomach, still getting dizzy and seeing double with limited peripheral vision. The only reason I'm entertaining this is because I'll be around most of the day and he'll," Owen pointed to Jack, "be around the rest of the time. Otherwise we'd be talking about transferring you to Cardiff Royal Infirmary."

Jack cut in before Owen's tone made Ianto's short temper snap - again. "You have to admit, staying with me has to beat being sent to another hospital, right?" He gave Ianto his best puppy dog eyes.

Ianto relented and gave Jack a small smile. "Only just," he said and laughed with everyone else at the barb.

"Tomorrow, then," Ianto's doctor agreed. "I suspect the nurses here will be sad to see your friend here go," he added with a nod towards Jack.

"He does have that effect on people," Ianto agreed.

"I've been very good," Jack said putting both hands up to his shoulders, palms out, like he was surrendering to someone. "The Doctor taught me to quit flirting with everything that moves."

"Shame," Ianto told him. "I found it entertaining."

Jack leaned in. "I didn't say I quit cold turkey. I've just narrowed it down to a select few." He leaned in and kissed Ianto quickly.

Owen rolled his eyes and waved his hand at them. "Oi, the two of you are disgusting."

"Don't mind him," Jack said to the room at large. "He's just jealous."

"Nothing strenuous for him for a few more weeks," the neurologist warned Jack as he left them alone, Owen trailing him muttering about people who can't seem to keep it in their pants.

&lt;{*}&gt;

The next day the doctor signed Ianto out to Owen just after breakfast so they would have the morning to make the trip back to Cardiff. Owen loaded him up on anti-nausea medicine and a mild tranquilizer to make the trip easier and he and Jack manhandled him into the passenger seat of the SUV. Owen tucked a couple of lousy, flat hospital pillows between Ianto's head and the window glass as Jack buckled him in.

As Owen climbed into the back seat he warned Jack not to make any sharp turns because Ianto was so far out of it he'd just fall right over. Jack drove almost all the way back to Cardiff with one hand on Ianto's arm steadying him from the dips and turns of the motorway. At least that was the official excuse.

As they pulled into the SUV's parking spot Owen said he'd go and grab the wheelchair from the autopsy bay. He'd already told Jack he was going to start renovating to serve as a more proper infirmary. The ratio of live patients to dead ones had been rapidly evening out lately and he'd found himself frighteningly under-prepared for the ones not ready for a drawer in the fourth level basement.

"I can walk," Ianto slurred from the front seat.

"You can't even talk," Jack opined.

"I need to walk. William said I need to walk around every few hours during the day or I'll just end up all jellied again." Ianto forced his eyes open to help strengthen his case.

Jack reached over and ruffled the dark fuzz that was just starting to cover the scars from the surgery. "First time I've ever heard you agree with your physio. Alright, I'll come around and help you."

Ianto didn't deny that he needed the help. He let Jack open the door and unlatch his seatbelt before he determinedly swung his feet out and pushed himself out of the seat.

He would have gone straight to the ground if Jack hadn't been there to catch him. "Okay, easy," Jack whispered as he got his arm around Ianto's shoulder and waited for him to find his legs. "Nice and slow. No hurry."

Ianto nodded then realized that was a mistake. He still got dizzy if he moved his head too fast.

It took a while, but Jack got Ianto up to reception and through the back door and into the lift. Ianto didn't stumble until they were trying to clear the cog door and Ianto misjudged the ledge.

"I gotcha, I gotcha," Jack said as he pulled Ianto back in. "You dizzy?" Ianto had broken into a cold sweat and started shaking. This was further than any of the walks he'd taken in hospital, and Jack was afraid they may have pushed just a little too far.

"Just… just a little," Ianto admitted.

"Let's sit you over here for a few minutes then we'll get you downstairs after you've rested a bit." Jack led him to the couch on the main level of the hub and sat him down. Ianto leaned his head against the back of the sofa and let out a sigh that told Jack that Ianto had admitted, at least to himself, that perhaps that walk had been pushing it.

Jack sat next to him, rubbing his hand gently up and down Ianto's thigh, just staying with him, letting him rest.

By the time Owen came in with their bags, Ianto's eyes had drifted closed and Jack had tilted him against his shoulder.

"He okay?" Owen asked dropping the bags and moving over to grab Ianto's hand and take his pulse.

"If you two are going to have a panic attack every time I get tired, you might as well just take me to the nearest hospital now," Ianto complained without opening his eyes.

"I'm not panicking," Jack told him confidently.

"Neither am I," Owen followed. "But that was a long walk for you at this point."

"I figured that out," Ianto admitted.

Owen squeezed his arm and then went back to the things he'd left by the door. He grabbed the pillows and came back. "Here, why don't you just lay down here for a bit while I write down some instructions for Captain Jack here."

Jack carefully laid Ianto against the pillows and loosened his windbreaker and took off his shoes. Ianto was asleep within seconds of being horizontal.

"He's still got a ton of drugs in his system, and that was a long walk for someone in his condition. I'm not worried," he said to Jack's concerned look.

Jack just nodded and followed Owen to his computer station. The girls had obviously been in, the computers all rebooted and everything cleaned up. Owen pulled up a blank document. "Okay, you ready for all this?" He glanced over to see Jack nod. It wasn't anything they hadn't discussed in London, but in more general terms. Now Jack was about to be inundated with a thousand little details.

"Meds schedule," Owen said as he started typing, explaining as he went about typing in the whats and how muches and how oftens, which ones were to be taken strictly on schedule and which could be used as needed. "And by 'as needed', I mean based on your judgment, not his. Not yet. He doesn't seem to think he needs any meds ever. We know better." He typed a few more instructions. "Physio. Though we may want to leave off for the rest of today. Even though he was asleep, I think that car trip really took it out of him." He pulled a note out of his pocket from William and copied the directions. "I'm going to call around and set him up appointments with someone who can help him with the balance and vision stuff," he added as he hit save and print. "We could still be looking at a couple weeks or months before his eyes sort out." Owen explained.

Jack noticed that he left the 'if ever' unsaid. It was still a crap-shoot as to whether or not Ianto would get full control over the muscles in his eyes. It was causing problems at this point because he couldn't move his eyes to the side and moving his head with any kind of speed was still painful. When his mood took a downward turn, he could get quite cross about it. After a few failed attempts to read books, Jack had finally found him a few audio books and put them on an iPod so at least he wasn't also bitching about being bored. And then there were the times Jack had finally learned to drop the platitudes and just let Ianto rant himself out.

"The other stuff is pretty self-explanatory," Owen carried on. "He's still nauseous, so we need to keep him hydrated and watch his electrolytes. I'm going to pick up a case of sport drinks for him. He says they're rubbish, but they aren't that bad. Make him drink them."

Jack laughed. "This is the guy who doesn't drink soda or beer. The fact that he doesn't like Lucozade doesn't surprise me."

Owen made a face. "No soda, no beer? What does he live on?"

Jack smiled, "Water and coffee, I guess. He was drinking apple juice in the hospital."

"That's not too bad. At least it has a good amount of sugar in it. I'll get some of that too, but try to get him to drink the electrolyte stuff." Owen grabbed the papers off the printer and handed them to Jack. "I know I'm in your speed dial, but my numbers are on the bottom of the papers just in case. If he starts acting off at all –"

"I know, I know," Jack agreed. It was heartening to see how worried Owen was. Just before he'd left Ianto had shot Owen. It was nice to know they'd worked through that little incident.

"We never hated each other, Jack," Owen said, reading Jack's face. "We just had very strong but opposing views on a few things. We sorted that out not long after you left."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Not like that!" Owen snatched the papers back and smacked Jack with them. "That may be your way of settling differences with people, but we used words. You know… we talked."

Jack smiled. "I'm glad. I'm really glad you were there when he fell. I can't imagine he would have survived up there without trained medical help. Good job."

Owen shrugged, not used to Jack complimenting him. "Why don't you see if you can get him into bed. He's going to be sleeping off that compazine most of the day. I dosed him but good. I'm going to the chemist's and Tescos. Be back to check on him in a bit."

Jack nodded and smiled and stuck the directions in his pocket as he turned and went back up to Ianto. He knelt next to the couch and shook Ianto's shoulder gently. "Ianto? Hey, Ianto, wake up for a bit. Let's get you downstairs into bed."

Ianto rolled his head to look at Jack and let out a groan. "Did you seriously just wake me up to tell me to go to sleep?"

Jack gave him a wicked grin. "Yeah, I guess I did. Come on." He took Ianto's hand and helped him into a sitting position. "Owen's gone off to get the rest of your meds and some food and stuff to keep here. Somehow he doesn't think a regular diet of pizza and egg rolls is going to do much for your recovery.

Ianto just glared, but he didn't object when Jack stood and then helped him stand as well.

They made their way slowly to Jack's office where Ianto looked at the hole in the floor like it was a hole in the rift about to swallow him.

Jack pointed to the floor. "Sit."

"Jack I can – "

"Sit," Jack ordered again, helping Ianto to lower himself down and hang his feet through the hole.

Wisely, Ianto complied. He knew that there would be times later – when he actually felt better than he did at that particular moment – when he'd have to battle Jack for his independence. This one wasn't worth it.

Jack scampered down the ladder and then moved around to help Ianto navigate the few steps and then he led him to the bed. There they found a large box sitting on the covers.

There was a note with Jack's name on it and a card with Ianto's taped to the top. Jack handed over the card and then took the note for him.

"Jack, we came down and changed the sheets and put clean towels in the bathroom. I can't believe you expected someone to convalesce without a telly. Call if you need anything. Tosh and Gwen," Jack read aloud.

Ianto was moving the card nearer and farther as he tried to focus on it. Eventually he just closed one eye – a coping mechanism Jack was getting more and more used to seeing – and read, "It has a DVD player built in. I'll bring some movies from home when you feel up to watching something. Get better soon. Jack's coffee is rubbish, Gwen and Tosh." Ianto read, his head turning back and forth as he scanned the lines. Ianto looked up with a grin. "I think it's entirely possible that I wasn't supposed to read that last bit out loud."

"Well, then, she can make the coffee until you feel like coming back up," Jack said primly.

"Well, Owen and Tosh will thank you for that punishment, at least," Ianto said with a lopsided grin.

"Smartass," Jack said taking the small TV/DVD player and setting it on his desk. "We'll set it up later."

Ianto nodded, scooting around to lean against the wall, his head going back with a thud that Jack sharply disapproved of. "Don't say a word, Jack," Ianto mumbled, eyes still closed. "Yes that did hurt, I don't plan on doing it again."

Jack's face softened, not that Ianto was looking. "Let's get you out of those jeans and into bed," he said, leaving the head-thumping alone.

"Okay," Ianto agreed aloud, having learned that nodding and shaking his head still didn't end up well for him. He was drifting off though, so Jack simply manhandled him until he'd gotten him out of his jeans and windbreaker. Jack got him to slide down and lay back against the pillow while he unbuttoned the dark blue oxford and pulled it off him. "You want to keep your t-shirt on?" Jack asked as Ianto settled against the pillow, clearly at the end of his current bout of consciousness.

"Whatever, Jack, I just want to go to sleep," Ianto muttered as he wrapped his arms around the end of his pillow.

Jack decided that it was easier to just leave it on than try and wrestle it over his head at that point. He ignored how badly he wanted to strip down to his own boxers and snuggle up to Ianto skin-to-skin and wiggled the blanket and sheet out from under Ianto and then draped them over him. "You want company?" he asked sitting on the edge of the bed and gently stroking Ianto's shoulder.

There was a long pause that made Jack think that perhaps Ianto was already too far asleep to hear him. But then there was a deep breath and a very quiet, "I've been waiting weeks for you to ask me that."

"Give me just a minute," Jack said brightly with a kiss to Ianto's ear as he bounced up. He stripped off his own clothes – his elastic braces snapping his hand as he nearly tripped himself trying to get himself undressed as fast as he could. Once he'd gotten himself down to his skivvies and the lights turned out, he carefully slid between the sheets and wrapped himself around Ianto's body. He slid one arm carefully under Ianto's neck and settled his face in the space between Ianto's shoulder and his ear. "This okay?"

Ianto threaded his fingers between Jack's where Jack's hand rested on his belly. "Absolutely."

"I'm sorry you got hurt," Jack whispered into Ianto's warm skin.

"Wasn't your fault," Ianto muttered, squeezing Jack's hand.

"I'm not sure of that," Jack said still trying to trace back timelines that happened and events that didn't. He couldn't help but feel that there had been a spiral of events that he'd caused that directly led to Ianto's injury. If he hadn't thrown himself at the TARDIS it wouldn't have gone to the end of the universe. If they hadn't gone to the end of the universe, "Dr. Yana" would never have been alerted to his true nature. If "Dr. Yana" hadn't become The Master again –

"Jack stop!" Ianto barked, his words slurred with sleep.

Jack immediately took inventory of his hands and feet to try and figure out what Ianto would be objecting too.

"I can hear the wheels turning. I don't blame you," Ianto said forcing some clarity into his voice. "Now go to sleep, okay?"

"Psychic training?" Jack asked quietly.

"No, I just know you Jack. You blamed yourself for Brecon Beacons, you blamed yourself for Rhys dying before we opened the rift, you blame yourself for everything bad that happens to us. Whether you were directly involved or not. I fell. Shit happens. But that doesn't make it your fault." Ianto was breathing heavily after his scolding.

Jack hugged him tight, "Sorry." He stroked the peach fuzz on the back of Ianto's head. "I brood, you know that."

"Let it go for now, okay?" Ianto shifted onto his back, still unable to lay on the other side that would let him face Jack completely. "We're all home. We're all okay," he made a face at the face Jack made at him implying that he was okay, "Let's take a little while to just be glad we're both back home."

Jack nodded and leaned in to kiss him deeply. "I can do that," Jack promised. He flopped onto his back and encouraged Ianto to roll onto his stomach so he could rest the good side of his head on Jack's shoulder. Once Ianto settled Jack adjusted the blankets.

"Owen will be back in a while with your meds. Sleep until then," Jack said lifting his head to kiss Ianto's temple.

"Bugger Owen and his meds," Ianto mumbled into Jack's chest.

"You better not," Jack said. The last thing he heard before they both drifted off was Ianto's quiet laugh.


End file.
